For Peter Stefan, a belated tribute to courage

Monday

Dec 2, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Clive McFarlane TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Six months ago, when it seemed the world had gone rabid and was foaming at the gates of his funeral parlor on Main Street, Peter Stefan of Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors stood his ground by his decision to prepare the body of a terrorist for burial.

The terrorist, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was one of the two men charged in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings, which took the lives of three people and maimed and injured hundreds of runners and onlookers.

The outrage against such a senseless and barbarous act was understandable.

But it was certainly disappointing to see politicians, people who aspire to be our leaders, fan the flames or, just as bad, stand neutral or quiet on the sidelines, as some sought to deny burial to Mr. Tsarnaev in Massachusetts or to otherwise desecrate his body as comeuppance.

Last week, the City Council tried to right that wrong by recognizing Mr. Stefan for his courageous stance during that period of despair, pain and anger.

"(Mr. Stefan) stood strong despite much criticism from people around the nation, in this commonwealth and even from friends in this city," Councilor-at-Large Rick Rushton said.

"We want to publicly say as a body that we recognize the work of this amazing citizen and person of faith. Even in times of crisis and tragedy, we have to stay resolved to our basic principles in honoring the rite of burial."

Yet Mr. Rushton and his colleagues on the City Council, whatever they may have done behind the scenes, never came out in public support of Mr. Stefan during the crisis, when their voices would have meant and accomplished so much more than they do now.

Of course, they were not the only politicians who failed the test of that trying time.

"I think that the people of Massachusetts have a right to say that they do not want that terrorist to be buried on the soil of Massachusetts," said Malden Democrat Edward J. Markey, then a U.S. congressman and currently the state's junior senator.

"I think that the body should be controlled by the federal government and that it should be returned to the family of the terrorist for disposal. But if the people of Massachusetts do not want that terrorist buried on our soil, then it should not be," he said.

Mr. Markey was in the midst of his U.S. Senate campaign at the time, and perhaps he had to choose his words carefully, especially since his challenger, Republican Gabriel E. Gomez, was promoting burying "Boston Marathon terrorist #1 ... at sea with Bin Laden."

Even Gov. Deval Patrick was less than assertive in appealing to our better selves.

"I don't have a comment about that or a point of view," Mr. Patrick said, when asked if he would object to having Tsarnaev buried in Massachusetts.

"Like I said, this is a family issue, with due respect to all of you, and the family needs to make some decisions. I understand they have some options. They need to exercise one soon."

But burial in Massachusetts didn't seem to be an option. Mr. Tsarnaev had lived in the Cambridge area for many years, but public officials in Boston and Cambridge had barred his burial within their boundaries. Tsarnaev ultimately was buried in a Moslem cemetery in Virginia.

In retrospect, we needed then the definitive stance taken by the City Council last week. Were the Nov. 26 remarks in support of Mr. Stefan spoken six months ago, they would have rung with the sort of inconvenient truth that our political leaders must have the courage to tell, whether or not it benefits their careers.